Reece Weaver wrote down three goals when she was a senior in high school. After she graduated from The University of Alabama, she planned to become a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, perform on Broadway and publish a book.
At UA, she was a member of dance team, and directly after graduation, she entered the rookie class of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. During her three years with the team, Weaver and her husband, Will Allman, became widely known in the Netflix show “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.” But in 2026, Weaver announced her departure from the team and headed for New York to play the leading role of Roxie Hart in a Broadway production of the musical “Chicago.”
Owning the stage
For Weaver, the move is more than a change in job description. She has been a team player at UA and with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. But now, she is starting to own the stage as an individual performer.
“I’m really starting to stretch myself and grow myself as an artist and as an athlete performer,” she said. “And so it’s been really rewarding just to see kind of the growth and the hard work and the fruit that is happening all throughout this process.”
Remembering her “why”
Even as she develops as an artist, Weaver never loses sight of her “why,” and how her work is always about serving something bigger than herself. She has been outspoken about her Christian faith and how she performs for an “audience of one.”
While at UA, and later with the Cowboys, she was acutely aware that she represented an organization that meant a great deal to people.
“My biggest takeaway from my time at Alabama is knowing that you’re representing something greater than yourself,” she said. “In my professional career, post-college, I’ve really been able to take that role of serving and being an ambassador throughout my life now.”
Now, on Broadway, she embraces her role as an ambassador for the show, for her fellow cast, and for the Broadway community even as she develops as a leading performer.
With daily shows most weeknights and four shows on weekends, the show demands a lot of its cast. To stay in peak form during performances, Weaver practices a healthy lifestyle and embraces vocal rest during performance days. And she stays grateful, reminding herself what a privilege a leading Broadway role is.
“This is just such a blessing to be able to feel this, to feel sometimes tired, to feel excited and nervous. All of it is just such a gift, because I know that there are so many people who would love to be in my shoes right now,” Weaver said. “It really is the most surreal thing.”
‘I’m just Reece’
While she and her husband are now public figures, Weaver takes public recognition with a grain of salt. “We just want to good humans and show people that we’re authentic and real, and that we’re just trying to figure it all out like everybody else in this world,” she said.
“I’m just Reece,” she continued. “I know that my career and the platform that I’ve been given has a huge impact on others, but at the end of the day, I’m not on some pedestal. We’re on the same level. And I just want to show people that if everything that I’m doing and achieving looks intimidating or overwhelming, it’s truly not. If I can do these things, everybody else can.”
Something bigger than herself
So Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader? Check. Broadway? Check. What about writing a book, the third of Weaver’s high school goals? Turns out it’s on the way. Though she cannot yet discuss the particulars, Weaver hopes her forthcoming book will encourage and inspire young women.
“I am a perfectionist, and I don’t like failure. I don’t like struggling. That’s really uncomfortable for me,” she admitted when asked what advice she would give to students.
“But don’t be afraid to fail.”
Being on a team taught her how to depend on others and be depended upon in return. Sometimes that meant succeeding, and other times it meant struggling. But it always meant serving something bigger than herself, even when all of the lights are on her.
When her Broadway run ends in November, Weaver plans to return to Tuscaloosa with her husband and enjoy the home they recently purchased together. She looks forward to the holidays and some well-earned “couch time.”
“We’ve been here [in New York] longer than we have been in our new home!” Weaver laughed.